Ep. 193 Can you still have a debate in high school debate?

High school debate is considered an ideal extracurricular
activity for aspiring lawyers, politicians, or anyone seeking to
learn the tools of effective communication and persuasion. But a
slew of recent reports argue that high school debate is being
captured by political ideology, rendering certain arguments
off-limits, some debate topics undebatable, and ad hominem
attacks fair game.


Debate judges disclose their judging paradigms by saying things
like, “I will listen to conservative-leaning arguments, but be
careful,” or, “Before anything else, including being a debate
judge, I am a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. . . . I cannot check the
revolutionary proletarian science at the door when I’m
judging.”

Some debates even devolve into personal attacks, spurred on by
judges who say they “will consider indictments of an opponent on
the basis that they have done [or] said something racist,
gendered, [or] -phobic in their personal behavior.”


On today’s show, we’re joined by two former high school debaters
who are dismayed by these trends. James Fishback is the founder
of Incubate Debate, which hosts free debate tournaments for
students in Florida. Matthew Adelstein is a rising sophomore
studying philosophy at the University of Michigan and publishes
Bentham's Newsletter, a newsletter about utilitarianism.



Show notes:


Transcript of episode



“Part I: At high school debates, debate is no longer allowed”
by James Fishback




“Part II: At high school debates, watch what you say” by
James Fishback




“How critical theory is radicalizing high school debate” by
Maya Bodnick




Nico’s current reading list on critical theory: “Grand Hotel
Abyss” by Stuart Jeffries and “America’s Cultural Revolution”
by Christopher F. Rufo




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